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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

::Angled::

This class has been brewing for a long while, friends. In fact, ever since Curves, I've been pondering a class on sewing angles of all types, diamonds and triangles galore.

I LOVE angles, with their movement and personality and endless fascinating combinations. Getting to know them can be tricky, intimidating even. But the results are impressive! And freeing too. How many gorgeous classic quilts include angles? So many! With curiosity, time and much experimenting, I've come to know them well and to also understand how to include them in my quilt designs. I'm eager to share this with you via Angled at Stitched in Color this fall!

This is a class for quilters. It's for developing quilters, ready to stretch their wings beyond the basics. It's for more experienced quilters, interested in expressing themselves in original designs or curious about liberated piecing. It's for all lovers of traditional quilt blocks, young and old. And I hope it will be for you!

I've designed this a new online course for the confident beginner or
intermediate quilter. Prerequisites are basic cutting and piecing
skills, with experience sewing rectangles, squares and rows. The class
has 3 main elements:

{Piecing Skills} learn to accurately
piece ANY angle, from classics like the diamond to compound angular
blocks, and truly any random triangle shape

Our journey spans 9 weeks. I'll be presenting 5 weeks of lessons, alternating each lesson week with a week "off" to give you
time to digest the concepts and make sewing progress - 5
weeks of lessons, 4 weeks off. All instruction is delivered
via a separate password protected blog that allows you to access the
lessons at your leisure, with posts delivered day to day during
instruction weeks. The private class blog interface remains open 1 month after lessons conclude, during which time I'll be very actively answering your questions. Before the class blog closes, you'll receive a PDF eBook of the entire course for your permanent reference.

What's Included?

In the past my classes have included a few quilts and many small projects. With Angled at Stitched in Color our focus narrows to the quilt-making skills of piecing and design. As such, the class is composed of 5 original quilt patterns (4 throw quilts, 1 queen-sized quilt) and an additional 5 liberated scrap-utilizing blocks. Each lesson week begins with design/piecing information, followed by an original quilt pattern that uses the week's angle in a creative way. I'll also point out classic quilts that you can make with your new-found skills. Each lesson week concludes with a liberated triangle block designed to utilize scraps from cutting that week's angled shapes.

Take that, triangle scraps!

Let's get practical. Only a quilting superhero could make 5 quilts in 9 weeks! Instead of attempting every project, you'll want to identify 1-3 quilts to make during class itself. I'll be previewing all quilts before class starts so you can zero in on your favorites. No matter which ones you choose, read all concept posts to absorb the quilting principles as we go. And remember, all students receive a pdf eBook of the entire course. Return to Angled via the eBook to access those other patterns and concepts later on!

Good news for hands-on learners! Remember that queen-size quilt I mentioned? It's actually a cumulative quilt, including 4 angles we'll study during class. Each week you can make an installment in this quilt, while practicing the week's skill. This is your chance to make a masterpiece for your bed, a fantastic surprise for your parent's anniversary or a very special wedding gift!

More good news! I want you to have fun with those liberated blocks without the pressure of having to make a bunch of them. If you like, you can donate yours to our collaborative charity quilts. I'll be collecting and finishing quilts made up of liberated blocks from our first 4 weeks of instruction. Won't that be fun to see!

Key Dates?

Registration opens Monday, August 18th. At the time of registration, students will find complete materials lists for all 5 quilts posted at the class blog. Lessons begin September 1st. We'll finish up two months later, at the end of October.

Well that's enough info for now! I'll be popping back in with weekly quilt previews between now and registration. I hope that your interest is piqued.

Once again, I am
totally humbled to have the opportunity to develop and teach classes
online. It is such a blessing! I hope that the things that I am passionate about making,
continue to be inviting and interesting to this community. I am
determined to always and only teach from my passions, because that's where I'm able to do the best work. Thank-you!

I suggest you wait until you choose your quilts to make any fabric acquisitions. One of the quilts is scrap-friendly (scraps grouped by color), one I did in all-solids and the others are more typical quilts - fabric-wise. If you end up liking the queen-sized quilt, you can practice the class concepts all in one project. But, I'm sure you'd make some purchases (solids at least) to make that quilt as beautiful as you'd want it to be!

Fair question =) There will be two class versions - the regular level (including eBook) at $55 and the camp level at $85. These prices are consistent with my previous classes, after which my students consistently report high value ratings in anonymous follow-up surveys. Thanks for your interest!

Camp is the same materials/projects/instruction, plus lots of interaction, with the give and take encouragement you'd experience in a real in-person class. Angled Camp will be limited to 20 campers. We'll enjoy live community chats, each an hour in length, plus a private Flickr group to help us keep up with our works-in-progress. And, campers have the opportunity to earn a little something handmade by me as a souvenir of Angled Camp. More details to come!

Camp is the same materials/projects/instruction, with the addition of more student/teacher and student/student interaction, with the give and take encouragement you'd experience in a real in-person class. Angled Camp will be limited to 20 campers. We'll enjoy live community chats, each an hour in length, plus a private Flickr group to help us keep up with our works-in-progress. And, campers have the opportunity to earn a little something handmade by me as a souvenir of Angled Camp. More details to come!

Oh, no, no, it is definitely not only for bloggers! It is for a blog-reader =). Accessing the class is just like reading this blog, but at a private blog url. You definitely do not need to be active on any particular social media to take my online classes. thanks for asking!

Oh, I hate that I have to skip this one. I'd sign up for camp if I weren't expecting our next little one mid-to-late September. I'd also sign up for the regular version if I didn't have your Curves class eBook that I want to work through. To anyone wondering which version to sign up for - I HIGHLY recommend the camp version; I absolutely loved how the community of the class helped keep me motivated and on top of my progress. It's great!

The upside to not making it into Sewvivor is that I'll have time to take this course! So looking forward to it!!! I've made two triangle quilts before but both times I swore I'd never do it again! Looking forward to learning more about angles. Thanks so much!

Oh I'm looking forward to seeing the quilts. The timing is terrible for me, but I love the ebook from the Penny Sampler that allows me to continue to work on the quilt well after the class has ended. I'll be looking forward to this one too, hopefully I can squeeze in a little sewing time!

Rachel - I'm excited about joining in on this class with you and think I'll be signing up (I need more hobby time in my life!). But, I just realized that I never received the ebook for the Color class you did in the spring. Has it gone out yet? At one point I thought you said it wouldn't be out until November but then I noticed here that you'll be sending THIS ebook out much faster. Just wanted to be sure I didn't miss something along the way.Thanks!

Oh, yes! It's definitely out. I send out eBooks about 4 weeks after live lessons stop. So sorry you didn't receive your copy. I'm going to send it out now to the email address I have on file for you. If you don't get it, please contact me again, but include the proper email address (you are a "no reply" commenter). Thanks!

To change it you'll need to change a setting in your Google accounts. Every Google user has a "Blogger" account, even if they are not blogging. This is where the "no reply" setting exists. Please do a search for "fix no reply blogger" and you should find a tutorial or three. Good luck!

Hi Rachel, I'm in Australia and wondering if the interactive classes would still work for me if I signed up as a camper? Having never taken on an online course (ever) I'm not sure how these work. Cheers, Nykie

Nykie, I have often had an Australian camper or two. This only becomes a factor during our live camp chats. Typically the best time for these chats is a weeknight at 9 pm New York time. Would that time work for you? Sometimes we have tried mid-day (New York time) Sunday chats, but those tend to have lower attendance than weeknight ones. After campers are signed up, I contact them to ask them about preferred live chat times and attempt to come up with a schedule that fits all. If the schedule, which is announced before class begins, does not suit you at all, you could cancel Camp and get a refund at that point (before class begins).

We'll open registration Monday morning, eastern U.S. time at 7 am. Don't anyone worry about getting up early to grab a spot. I do cap the total number of students in my classes, but the earliest I've sold out of the regular class version is day 2. Sometimes Camp does sell out the first day. Thanks!

Can't wait!! Getting this for my Birthday. I have never taken one of your classes before but the time seems right along with the topic. I have triangles already cut for a quilt but had a major problem when it came to sewing them together, I hope I can finish it after this class ( l love the fabric!) Congrats on your baby news!

All signed up. A bit nervous as I've only made two quilts so far, but I'm a quick learner. What the heck, just dive in and swim like crazy right? :)PS I didn't get the $10 discount on the camp registration?